■ GERMANY
Bremen in talks with Allofs
Werder Bremen have called an emergency meeting in hopes of convincing sought-after general manager Klaus Allofs to stay at the club. The 51-year-old Allofs has been instrumental in turning the small northern club into a top team, but he alarmed Bremen by saying on Monday that he has received several offers from other clubs. Reports say they include top rivals Bayern Munich. "I cannot confirm that I will stay in Bremen. First we have to talk with each other," Allofs said. The special meeting will be held today by the club's supervisory board, which is expected to offer a sizable pay increase offer to Allofs, whose contract runs out in 2009. "We absolutely want to keep working with Allofs, even if it is the supervisory board that wraps up the contract, not the club's management," club chairman Juergen Born said on Thursday. Allofs, who took over in 1999, forms a highly regarded team with coach Thomas Schaaf. Bremen captured the Bundesliga title in 2003-2004 and have finished in the top three the past four years, making them a regular in the Champions League. Bremen's soaring popularity has threatened to eclipse Bayern in Germany.
■ ROMANIA
Teixeira joins Pandurii
Romanian club Pandurii Targu Jiu are signing a new coach and 11 players from Portugal in a desperate bid to stay in the first division. "Joaquim Teixeira agreed a two-and-a-half year deal and his main task is to avoid relegation," Pandurii Targu Jiu president Marin Condescu told reporters. Condescu said Teixeira's compatriots would be hired by Jan. 7, when the new squad will begin training for the re-start of the Romanian season in late February following a winter break. Teixeira, Pandurii's third boss this season, was on the coaching staff with Porto from 1996-1998 and the Portugal national side from 2000-2002. Pandurii, who are second from bottom, put nine players on the transfer list earlier this month.
■ BRAZIL
Gavilan deal called off
Flamengo will not sign Paraguay midfielder Diego Gavilan because he failed a physical exam on Thursday. "Flamengo's medical department recommended the club not to hire Gavilan," Flamengo said in a brief statement on their Web site. The club did not immediately release details on what type of injury prompted the cancellation. The announcement was made just moments before the 27-year-old Gavilan was to be officially introduced to fans. Flamengo had reached a one-year deal with the defender last week. A former Newcastle United and Udinese player, Gavilan played this season for Brazilian club Gremio. He is serving a 120-day suspension for punching Palmeiras midfielder Jorge Valdivia in the back during a Brazilian league match. The suspension will end in February, but the player has appealed and could be allowed to play earlier.
■ BELGIUM
Mouscron appoint Scifo
Enzo Scifo was hired as coach of Belgian club Excelsior Mouscron on Thursday. Scifo, 41, had been out of soccer for two years. As a player, the midfield playmaker helped Belgium reach the semi-finals at the 1986 World Cup -- the country's best result ever. After a playing career spent at Anderlecht, Italian clubs Inter Milan and Torino, and French teams Bordeaux and Auxerre, Scifo briefly coached Sporting Charleroi. "I had not expected a return like this," Scifo said. Mouscron fired their coach 10 days ago after disappointing results.
A runner who stopped during a marathon in China to pose doing the splits and another who hoarded energy gels have been banned for two years, the local athletics association said yesterday. The incidents happened during Sunday’s marathon in Sichuan Province’s Chengdu and were widely shared online. Videos showed a female runner stopping suddenly and dropping to the ground in the splits position, holding up her arms in a heart shape as she apparently posed for a photograph. She “committed obstructive fouls during the race, affecting the safe participation of other runners,” the Sichuan Athletics Association said in a statement, which identified
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
Liverpool star Mohamed Salah on Tuesday said that he would leave the English club at the end of the Premier League season, marking an earlier-than-planned departure for one of the club’s greatest-ever scorers and soccer’s biggest names. The 33-year-old Egypt forward, who has scored 255 goals in 435 appearances for Liverpool, “reached an agreement” to quit the team a year before his contract was due to expire, the Premier League champions said. Salah’s form has dipped in his ninth year at Anfield, to such an extent that he was dropped for a stretch of games late last year — leading to the
There were some big games to be played yesterday in the NBA, with the Atlanta Hawks to play the Detroit Pistons in a matchup pitting a Hawks team who are rolling against a Pistons team trying to lock up the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed. The Oklahoma City Thunder were to play the Boston Celtics, a showdown featuring the two most recent champions, while the Houston Rockets faced the Minnesota Timberwolves, a game that could factor mightily into Western Conference seeding. Elsewhere, the Washington Wizards were to play the Utah Jazz, with the Wizards on a 16-game slide visiting against a team
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